[oelang]

Any sensor that captures a ton of data that needs realtime processing to 'compress' the data before the data can be forwarded to data accumulator. Think MRI or CT scanners but industrially there are thousands of applications.

If you need a lot of realtime processing to drive motors (think industrial robots of all kinds), FPGAs are preferred of micro-controllers.

All kinds of industrial sorting systems are driven by fpgas because the moment of measurement (typically with a camera) & the sorting decision are less than a milisecond apart.

There are many more, it's a very 'industrial' product nowadays, but sometimes an FPGA will pop up in a high-end smartphone or TV because they allow to add certain features late in the design cycle.